Making Nuptial Bliss with Chris Colyard Photography
Published:Sunday | September 22, 2019 | 12:00 AMKrysta Anderson - Gleaner Writer
E xchanging of vows, a lustful kiss, the first dance, and a happily ever after. Creating moments and memories for that life-changing journey leading to one significant day is really amazing. Pair with that the ability to click, flash and capture the essence of a couple’s love, and you have for yourself a truly phenomenal experience. Looking to make nuptial bliss great again is wedding photographer Christopher Colyard.
Colyard told Beyond the Lens, that he has been a photographer for six years.
“I didn’t go to college for photography, I’ve never taken a single art class, and I didn’t grow up thinking I wanted to become a photographer. It just naturally happened and I am grateful for that.”
When asked why he decided to pursue photography professionally, weddings to be exact, he had this to say.
“I became interested in wedding photography because the photographer at our wedding didn’t do a great job. I was really disappointed with the quality of his work. We didn’t get any good photos, and I could not understand why this was happening to me. I just wanted to have good photos to look back at.” Talk about if you want something done right, do it yourself!
This propelled the aspiring photographer to learn more about the dynamic art form. During his research, he fell in love with the image process.
“Even though I didn’t have a camera, I read every photography book I could find and watched photography videos on YouTube for a full year until I was able to buy a camera.”
His passions skyrocketed from there – so did his talent.
RANDOM BEGINNING
He began his journey randomly taking photos of anything: family, people on the streets, dogs, even events that he wasn’t invited to. He drove around seeking something to shoot. Following the pursuit and capture of those photos, he would then post them online. What happened next could only be described as fate.
“One day, a woman messaged me and asked if I could take pictures of her wedding. My immediate response was, ‘No: I have never shot a wedding before’. But she replied saying, ‘Yes, you take great photos.’
“So I showed up and I took photos of her wedding, posting them online. From there, another woman put in the request to have her wedding photographed by me, and the rest is history,” he shared with Outlook. Chris Colyard Photography was born.
The road of entrepreneurship for Colyard has been a balancing act between mastering his craft as a photographer and learning how to market his business. He has learned that fun is the fuel of creativity.
“When I was in my 20s, I was pretty stressed. I was worried about finishing my masters and getting another promotion. Then it suddenly hit me – this isn’t fun. Having fun is really important because life can be stressful. Fun should be your number one priority,” he highlighted.
Photography plays a major role in his life. The reason for doing it is simple: it’s fun, and as long as he is having fun, he has no intentions of quitting.
While the fun factor is all well and good, he finds that not everyone will appreciate a photographer and his (or her) work. Persons, he said, have expressed that they can use their phones to take better photos than he can. His way to overcome this: love them back because he doesn’t believe in hating in any form. He appreciates their feedback, loving them for it and wishing them all the best in their lives. He is thrilled to be a wedding photographer nonetheless, basking in the joys of the little things: seeing the bride during the ‘getting-ready’ process, being so nervous on the morning of the wedding, and then after she puts on her dress, seeing those nerves go away instantly. She is then filled with this air of confidence because she realises that she has got this.
With mentors like Sal Cincotta and Vanessa Joy guiding him through photography and entrepreneurship, he is well on his path to greatness.
“I actually met them both last year at a photography conference in St Louis. It was really amazing talking to them about photography.”
The biggest myth about photography, according to Colyard, is that this field is all about the gear. It’s not about the gear, he said, it’s about the connection.
“While having good gear certainly helps, good gear alone can’t make good images. You need to be able to communicate and interact with your clients. This is something I practise daily.”
Here is a fun fact: Colyard can tell the date and venue of every wedding he has ever shot from memory. It is his hope to expand his big goal and open a wedding photography studio. He would love to enlist two or three photographers who truly loves photography, or a student of photography who is seeking growth, to join him.
His advice to up-and-coming photographers is to work on your photography every day and just start shooting. Don’t wait on better gear or the right conditions or when you’re not busy. Just start shooting and always be you.
Interested persons can find out more about Chris Colyard Photography by visiting his website: https://chriscolyard.com/, call (876) 350-4063 or follow on Instagram @chriscolyardphotography.